Back in October when Shayne Gostisbehere was sent back to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms at the end of Flyers training camp, it was difficult to imagine his season would end at the NHL Awards in Las Vegas.
But a stellar 17-goal, 46-point performance changed expectations entirely. Suddenly, it seemed possible that Gostisbehere would not just be nominated for the Calder Trophy given to the league’s best rookie, but could actually win it.
Tonight, that dream died as Chicago’s Artemi Panarin comfortably won the award. Gostisbehere came in second place in the voting, beating out phenom Connor McDavid.
1. Artemi Panarin, CHI 1258 (88-41-16-3-2)
2. Shayne Gostisbehere, PHI 955 (33-53-42-12-8)
3. Connor McDavid, EDM 858 (25-45-48-15-8)
4. Jack Eichel, BUF 449 (2-9-25-72-25)
5. Dylan Larkin, DET 170 (1-0-8-23-51)
6. Max Domi, ARI 92 (0-2-2-12-32)
7. John Gibson, ANA 62 (0-0-5-9-10)
8. Colton Parayko, STL 52 (1-0-4-4-10)
9. Sam Reinhart, BUF 2 (0-0-0-0-2)
10. Anthony Duclair, ARI 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
Jaccob Slavin, CAR 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
The Ghost Bear received 955 total points in the voting, including 33 first-place votes. Panarin, whose performance with the Blackhawks was nothing short of stellar, was a deserving winner, even if some argued that his age (24) and previous professional experience in the KHL should make him ineligible for the award.
Gostisbehere had a strong statistical case for the Calder around mid-February, but a late swoon in terms of advanced metrics hurt his standing among the stat crowd. Still, the stellar point production of Panarin — 77 points in 80 games — made victory for Ghost unlikely even if his possession metrics had stayed positive.
Even though Flyers fans surely were hoping for Gostisbehere to be the first Calder winner in franchise history, second place in the Calder voting remains a very impressive achievement. He’ll now look to build on his standout rookie season in 2016-17.
